1. Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord

The Entire Sacred Scripture Is about the Lord, and the Lord Is the Word

WE read in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and nothing that was made came about without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not grasp it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only-begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 5, 14)

In the same Gospel,

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in the same Gospel,

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

We can see from this that the Lord is God from eternity and that he himself is that Lord who was born into the world. It actually says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God, as well as that nothing that was made came about without him, and then that the Word became flesh and that they saw him.

There is little understanding in the church of what it means to call the Lord “the Word.” He is called the Word because the Word means divine truth or divine wisdom and the Lord is divine truth itself or divine wisdom itself. That is why he is also called the light that is said to have come into the world.

Since divine wisdom and divine love are one with each other and have been one in the Lord from eternity, it also says “in him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind.” The life is divine love, and the light is divine wisdom.

This oneness is what is meant by saying both that “in the beginning the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God.” “With God” is in God, since wisdom is in love and love is in wisdom. This is like the statement elsewhere in John, “Glorify me, Father, together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). “With yourself” is “in yourself.” This is why it adds “and the Word was God.” It says elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father and the Father is in him [John 14:10], and that the Father and he are one [John 10:30].

Since the Word is the divine wisdom of the divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah himself and therefore the Lord, the one by whom all things were made that were made, since everything was created out of divine love by means of divine wisdom.

269. It can be deduced that this happens in heaven as a whole from the similar phenomena in each community in heaven. For each community is a heaven on a smaller scale, also resembling a person. (On this see my book HEAVEN AND HELL, 41-87.) In every community in heaven those who are at its centre likewise answer to the heart and lungs, and they enjoy the strongest light. The light itself, and consequently the perception of truth, spreads from that centre in all directions towards the circumference, thus reaching all the members of the community and bringing them spiritual life. A demonstration showed that on the removal of those at the centre, who made up the province of the heart and lungs and enjoyed the strongest light, the surrounding people had a shadow cast upon their understandings, and had such a tenuous perception of truth that they complained. But as soon as those at the centre returned, they saw the light and their perception of truth was as before.

This can be compared with heat and light coming from the sun of the world, which gives trees and plants the power to grow, even if they are placed to one side and are under a cloud, so long as the sun is above the horizon. The same is true of the light and heat of heaven coming from the Lord as the sun there. This light is in essence Divine truth, the source of all intelligence and wisdom for angels as well as men. This is why it is said of the Word that it was with God and was God, that it enlightens everyone who comes into the world; and that the light also shines in the darkness (John 1:1, 5, 9). The Word there means the Lord in respect of Divine truth.